"Bob Villa" wrote
I also had nuns in grade school and had no problems and didn't see
anything I would call abuse. They were mostly bluff...which worked
well. For me, it was an excellent place to learn and have friends.
I went to public high and it was also a great experience. This was
the early Sixties so there wasn't much in the way of drugs or gangs.

The nuns had a reputation and they would, on occasion, show an example of
some sort. They could handle a classroom of 60 to 80 kids easily, using
fear of the yardstick. Our fifth grade num broke a few and the worse
punishment was you had to bring he a new one, thus explaining to your parent
why. By today's standards, that would be abuse, but in the 50's, it was
common (and given fairly ) practice too the few really bad ass kids in the
class.

I went to school in the 50's - 60's in Philadelphia. The Catholic school
system was one of the top rated in the country while the public school
system was down in the bottom group. Religion aside, we got a very good
education. When we moved to CT, the Catholic school in town was barely up
to par while the public school was good, but still not as good as Philly's
Parochial system. Our kids could have easily moved up a grade here.

Like all things of this sort, the reults will vary from town to town and
probably does in Philly these days also.